UN says Saudi Arabia planned journalist's assassination.

Brazil Agency - The murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was planned by Saudi officials, a preliminary report from the United Nations (UN) investigation into the case concluded on Thursday (7). Khashoggi, a staunch critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed at the country's consulate in Istanbul.

"Evidence gathered during my mission in Turkey shows that Khashoggi was the victim of a brutal and premeditated murder, planned and committed by Saudi Arabian officials," said the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard.

Among the evidence to which the UN expert had access were excerpts of "astonishing and terrifying" audio recordings obtained and preserved by the Turkish intelligence agency. The rapporteur, however, acknowledged that her team did not have the opportunity to thoroughly examine this material or verify its authenticity.

The expert stated that Khashoggi's murder represented a violation of international law and the norms governing relations between countries regarding the legitimate use of diplomatic missions.

"Guarantees of immunity were in no case designed to facilitate a crime and exonerate the perpetrators from their criminal responsibility," Callarmad stressed in a statement released by the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva.

Callamard also stated that "the circumstances of the assassination and the response of the (Saudi) state representatives" can be described as "immunity for impunity."

The expert traveled to Turkey with a team that included a serious crimes investigator and a forensic pathologist. During her inquiries, she found that Saudi Arabia was obstructing and hindering the efforts of Turkish authorities to elucidate the circumstances of the journalist's death.

A final report with the results of the investigation will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in June.

*With information from Deutsche Welle (Germany's public broadcaster)